


Rescued

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Angst, Annegst, Gen, not really any warnings but Anne does have a breakdown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 01:42:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16777114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Anne comes home, but she's not okay.





	Rescued

The pink had been all that Anne had known for what felt like two years now. Had it really only been a few months? According to the druids, the Soul Riders, even every newspaper and calendar that she'd been able to get her pink-streaked hands on, yes, it had only been a few months. Two or three, according to Rhiannon. And yet... depending on who you asked, it had been over four years since she'd disappeared at that show in France. And it sure as hell felt like it. Perhaps Pandoria was warping the reality of Jorvik, twisting time until it no longer mattered.

It had been a miraculous return. The return of a young woman who'd gone missing while at a dressage competition. Nobody suspected the truth, except for those who were close enough to know the truth. The truth of that awful place, with the stars and clouds ever-present in the sky. But was it really a sky? Could there be a sky when all of the islands there floated in a void? Of course, some islands had been oddly anchored, remaining in place while other, smaller islands shifted around in the pink eternity.

Even Anne's prison had floated. That crystal prison, the one that had... had protected her, really. Evergray hypothesised that the crystal had protected Anne from the worst of the Pandorian magic. And also, had protected her from corruption, from torture, by Dark Core.

Because, after everything, Anne would have broken, had Dark Core chosen to torture her. But, in her crystal, her almost-tower, they hadn't been able to reach her. Garnok's tentacles hadn't been able to reach her.

Just as she had been unable to reach Concorde, when it had mattered the most. That sting of initial separation, the shattering ache of his loss, the feeling of her very soul sundering in two, had been the only reason that she'd become trapped here. She had taken one stumbling step into this place, out of the middle-world, the void of floating crystals and floating stone platforms, and had turned, expecting to see her beloved Concorde soaring through the portal behind her. They'd become separated on the flight here, Anne tumbling from Concorde's back thanks to a rogue blast of fire from Sabine, and Concorde had urged her to run, to get through that portal, told her that he'd be right behind her.

A tentacle had snatched Concorde from the air, and Anne had felt as though the world had fallen out from under her. His scream would echo in her ears forever, it seemed.

And now, here was a new Concorde, one that Anne was expected to bond with as though nothing had happened, as though her Concorde hadn't died, had simply been reborn in a new form. But this foal before her was not the one who had gotten her through high school. He was not the one who had taken her on long rides out on her family's country estate when she'd just wanted to get away from it all. He was not the one who had been there for her, comforting her when the long, gruelling hours of training for the druids had become too much for her. He was not the one who had sacrificed himself to save her life.

Oh, sure, this foal was spunky enough. He definitely had Concorde's attitude, his British-accented voice, his better-than-you way of speaking and holding himself. Already, he ruled the roost (or should that be stable?) and he was only a few months old. Anne wondered where his mother was.

But she didn't wonder that now. She didn't wonder anything now, when she was sitting with her back pressed against the runestone up at the Valedale training paddock that the druids used for druid training. Sunlight through the leaves of the cherry trees above dappled her knees. In places, the pink veins that ran through every inch of her skin glowed as bright as the runestone at her back. In others, they seemed to sparkle. It depended on if they were in the shade or if they were in the sun.

Anne had been crying for hours, or so it seemed. The tears just never seemed to stop, even though the sobs had stopped some time ago. When she'd been playing with this new, itty bitty version of Concorde, and something that he'd done, some banter or just a movement of his head or a flick of his tiny wings, had reminded Anne painfully of the Concorde that she'd lost. Something had broken in her at that, unleashing the torrent of tears that had built up over weeks of trying to get on with things, trying to pretend that everything was okay. And she knew that she had to get on with things, she knew that the druids were depending on her. She was a Soul Rider, a member of the elite team whose sole purpose was to defeat Dark Core and save the world. She needed to just get up and get on with things, and never mind her fragile mental state, never mind how much she'd suffered, how much she still struggled to get out of bed some days, how much she wanted to just lock herself away and throw herself into something that she enjoyed. Hell, she hadn't even seen Derek since she'd gotten back, and he'd once been her closest friend.

"Anne?" Anne looked up at the sound of the woman's voice, the one that she'd heard so often ever since she'd come home. Rhiannon was a Wild Whisperer, one of the rare few druids who had a talent for finding Soul Steeds and uniting them with their riders. But it had not been Rhiannon who had found Concorde, rather, it had been Justin, a simple stable boy who seemed as broken as Anne was. Anne wondered what had happened to him, but he'd never really spoken to her. Maybe he was afraid of her. Maybe he just didn't know what to say. Maybe he just didn't want to look at her for too long, or be around her. Maybe he thought that he'd catch some Pandorian disease from her.

"I'm sorry," said Anne, her voice coming out far weaker than she was used to. She hated the sound of it, hated how broken she sounded. "I know I should be training him, I know I should be bonding with him, I know it's important and that I can't just be selfishly-"

A large, gentle hand on her shoulder stopped Anne's rambling in its tracks. Anne's mouth remained open as she stared at Rhiannon, who lowered herself down to crouch in front of Anne.

"You're struggling," said Rhiannon, her voice gentle. Too gentle. A lump formed in Anne's throat as she closed her mouth. Rhiannon's hand on her back, rubbing in gentle, soothing circles, made the sobs start up again. Anne clutched Rhiannon's poncho, gripping it tightly as sobs racked her body. She barely heard Rhiannon's soft, soothing voice, though it was deep enough to vibrate into her very soul. "Hey now, it's okay. You don't need to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, kiddo."

"But I do," Anne sobbed, staring at Rhiannon through a film of tears. "I'm a Soul Rider, it's quite literally my job to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders."

"I know," said Rhiannon. "And that's no fun. But listen, kid, I'm not like the other druids."

"You tried to stop the girls from finding Concorde, you trapped Linda in place, if it were up to you, that monster would still have Concorde and I'd still be stuck in Pandoria!" Anne snapped at her. Immediately, she felt awful for snapping at the one who was trying to help her. "I'm sorry." But Rhiannon didn't look disappointed or angry. Her eyes were filled with warmth.

"I was wrong," said Rhiannon. "And I was wrong to make you train Concorde from the second you arrived home. I see that now."

"Do you?" Anne asked, a lick of anger still in her voice. If Rhiannon was affected by Anne's sharp tongue, she didn't show it.

"Whenever I'm upset, being around foals or horses in general is a surefire way to cheer me up," said Rhiannon. "I thought that the same would be true for you, and what better way than by bonding with your reborn Soul Steed?"

"It's too soon," said Anne, trying to swallow around the lump in her throat. "It feels like I lost him so long ago, but I was so scared and I just didn't really get the chance to grieve for him." More tears fell down her cheeks, dripping off her chin and making her lips salty.

"Would holding a funeral for him help?" Rhiannon asked.

"I don't know," said Anne, shaking her head. "Maybe. But- I just- I don't want to be here right now. In Valedale. I can't just throw myself back into things, Rhiannon, I'm sorry but I can't."

"And I can see that now," said Rhiannon. "But tell you what, kid. While you were gone, a new facility opened up over on South Hoof."

"You mean that place with the rundown old farm and the giant tree and the herd of wild ponies?" Anne asked. She'd been there a few times, photographing the wild ponies in their natural habitat. One such picture that she'd taken, one depicting the ponies grazing almost reverently around the gnarled old Ancient Tree known as the Singing Yew, had gone on to win countless prizes and some internet fame. A few musical artists had even used it as a cover for their album.

"That very one," said Rhiannon, nodding. "A few weeks ago, a man by the name of Hugh came back to Jorvik and fixed up the ranch there, with the help of a few dozen people from the Moorland summer camp. I've been there myself a few times. It's beautiful."

"I don't know," said Anne, picking at her fingernails. "Will spending time at a ranch really help me? And won't it be taking up valuable time that could be better spent training Concorde or readying myself for the battle to come?" Rhiannon sighed.

"Elizabeth did get a little too over-excited about that, I'll admit," said Rhiannon. "And I don't blame her. But-" She continued when Anne opened her mouth to speak. "I can see now that jumping right back into things can be very detrimental. Did you know that Linda and Lisa were also captured by Dark Core and imprisoned?"

"No," said Anne. Her friends hadn't really spoken to her, they'd been giving her the space that they thought she needed. And, really, she did need that space. Some company would be nice, though. Just a friendly shoulder to cry on, a friend to take her hand and tell her that it'd all be okay.

"I'll let them tell you the full details but the gist of it is that Lisa was captured by Dark Core and thrust into Pandoria," said Rhiannon. "Separated from Starshine."

"I remember that," said Anne, a dim flicker of recognition tugging in her brain. "I felt her, I was sure of it." The sun-shaped birthmark on her neck, usually hidden beneath her hair, had burned like fire.

"She was actually the one who told us where you were," said Rhiannon. "And the guilt over leaving you there ate her up inside. It got to the point where she had a breakdown, though this one wasn't as public, and went back home to live with her dad for a little over a year."

"Public?" Anne echoed.

"I'll let her tell you about it," said Rhiannon. "But I, as a member of the Keeper of Aideen, declare that all four of you girls could do with a serious vacation."

"But Dark Core, the final battle, the fate of the world-" Anne protested.

"Can wait," said Rhiannon. "I'd prefer a living Soul Rider to one who's broken inside. Can't have you all breaking down in the middle of a battle, now, can we?"

"You really think that spending some time on a ranch will help?" Anne asked, not unkindly. It just seemed so strange, that someone as broken as her could be healed by spending time around horses.

"I'm not saying it'll make you a chipper little thing," said Rhiannon. "But it will help. Or it should. At the very least, it'll be a change of scenery. And it's what's known as a rescue ranch. The Broken Horseshoe ranch. A place for people and horses alike to come to heal together. Lisa's been going there a lot, if for no other reason than her fiancee lives there, and she's seemed so much happier for it. She's even been playing again recently."

"Fiancee?" Anne repeated.

"And you need time to catch up with your friends," said Rhiannon, a chuckle in her voice at the incredulous expression on Anne's face.

"Yeah, no kidding," said Anne. Lisa was engaged? When had that happened?


End file.
